The archive of Margherita Spiluttini broadens the scope of our collection. Our visual knowledge of Austrian architecture is shaped decisively by the photographers’ gaze, and Spiluttini’s work occupies a central position in this context.

The viewpoint from which the architecture is ‘fixed’ is deliberately chosen and of key significance in determining the impact and perception of the buildings shown. Forced perspectives or even optical illusions have been employed since the invention of photography.

Plays on the illusionary aspects of perspective even characterised already Baroque paintings. The illusion of space dominates, in contrast to the representation of reality. For instance, Andrea Pozzo’s cupola in the Vienna Jesuitenkirche, actually a flat surface, cannot be distinguished from a real dome from a particular camera angle. In contrast, Spiluttini’s photograph of the Michaelerkuppel lacks spatial depth entirely. In the juxtaposition of these two images Spiluttini emphasises the manipulative impact of photography as a medium, rendering visible the “fictitive reality” and the potential for optical illusions.